


Dependency

by thorsicle (LadyCamillus)



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, It's a love hate relationship, M/M, no sex but it's implied at one point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 09:10:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/977000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyCamillus/pseuds/thorsicle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The idea came from a scene in a popular movie. Loki assumes the worst. Thor is just trying to look out for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dependency

Loki could feel the anger creeping up his spine as Thor’s words echoed in his mind. He kept his features calm but he could not keep the daggers from his eyes as he met Thor’s gaze and repeated, “Stay… here?” The words were like ice as they fell from his tongue.

"Yes, Loki, please I need you to stay-" Thor kept going but Loki was no longer hearing what was being said.

 _Stay here._ Those two simple words seemed to take a lifetime to comprehend before he gathered his wits. “There is a _war_ happening outside these walls," he hissed, cutting Thor off from whatever he had been saying. "A war that threatens all we know, and you expect me to sit behind sealed doors like a frightened child while you go out and play hero?” The calm façade was dropping. The words tumbled out of his mouth and his voice was growing louder.

Thor was taken aback by the outburst, the oaf. Did he truly think that he would be content to follow such an obscene order, that he would gladly sit back as the walls of Asgard fell around him simply because Thor had asked him to?

“Loki, please,” Thor tried, “I only wish for-” Loki snarled and cut him off.

“Wish for what? Wish for the glory of the battle? To be the glorious golden warrior that the Aesir worship you as?” Loki snapped. The _nerve_ , the idiocy, he had spent far too long in the shadow of his brother and he would not allow Thor to continue treating him as if he were his lesser. “This is a game to you isn’t?”

“Loki, you know that’s-”

“‘Look at me, the Mighty Thor!’” Loki said, deepening his voice to a poor mockery of Thor’s. “’Here to save you all from the evils of the realm! Fear not lowly beings, for I shall save you with a simple swing of my hammer. There shall be mead for all by nightfall!’”

“No, that’s not-”

“Oh of course, I’m _sorry_ , how could I forget?” He continued with the mocking voice, “‘And come to me fair maidens for Mjolnir is not the only hammer I wield masterfully!’”

The goading had finally pushed Thor to anger as well. “Loki, I beg you listen to me!” he shouted.

“For what possible reason, Thor?” Loki hissed, advancing towards Thor. “What could you possibly say that would excuse such an insulting statement? _I am of Asgard, Thor._ As much as you and the rest of the realm love to remind me of my heritage, I was raised a warrior, same as you. I am capable of handling myself in battle. Do not think because the Aesir blood does not run through my veins that I am _weak_ and need protection for it.” He was inches from Thor now.

“I need you to stay safe!” Thor finally got out, grabbing Loki’s shoulders in frustration.

Loki tried to jerk from his iron grip and spat out, “ _I don’t need your protect-”_

“I can't lose you again, Loki!” Thor roared, his fingers dug painfully into Loki’s skin and the intensity of his gaze threatened to burn through him. “I can’t.” He whispered touching his forehead to Loki’s and sliding his grip to his arms. “I’m not strong enough.”

His words broke Loki’s anger and left him, for once, speechless. Thor wasn’t supposed to show this sort of weakness, let alone have Loki as the source of it. Loki, who betrayed and lied to and fought Thor for countless centuries, who took every opportunity that presented itself to belittle and humiliate Thor. Any love that Thor harbored for Loki during their younger years should’ve been long dissipated, Loki was sure he had burned that bridge without any hope of rebuilding it. But here Thor was, head pressed to his own, eyes desperately searching for what, Loki didn’t know.

Thor closed his eyes and said quietly, “The day I watched you fall… I died that day.” He opened his eyes and continued more determinedly, “I prayed. I prayed everyday for the fates to change their design and if only I could have you back things would be different. I would not let anything get in the way of what we had as brothers, I promised I wouldn’t let that happen again.” Thor’s grip tightened. “My prayers were answered, brother. Not in a way I could have imagined but answered nonetheless and I held my promise. Even as you tore through Midgard, even as you drove that knife into me, I have never stopped loving you and working to mend this bond.”

“Thor…” Loki started carefully.

“If I were to lose you today,” Thor cut in, “I wouldn’t be able to carry on. We’re two halves of a whole, Loki. I need you.” Thor pulled Loki the rest of the way in and hugged him, placing a hand on the back of his head. Loki did not hug back but he relaxed his body and allowed it to happen.

After a few moments like that Loki said softly, “You know I cannot stay here.”

Thor buried his face in Loki’s neck and murmured, “I know.” He relinquished his hold on Loki and straightened but left a hand cupping the side of Loki’s neck as he used to before they fell apart.

The familiarity of the gesture scared Loki, though he’d never admit it, and so he instead took the hand from his neck, and held it in both of his own. He studied the calloused and scarred hand, so pliant in his grip. Loki thought of all the times it had been raised against him. All of the battles they had fought over the centuries. Then, conversely, he remembered the times it had been kind to him. The times when they were children and it had protected Loki from beasts on forbidden adventures, the times when they were teenagers and it had patched Loki up after getting into mischief and then refusing to go to the healers because he didn’t want to explain what happened, the times when they were young adults and still exploring and discovering themselves and it had caressed his skin and learned his secrets. Loki ran his thumb across the lines of the palm, rediscovering what he had already once memorized.

Slowly Loki raised the hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to it. Without looking up he whispered, “Thank you,” and brought Thor’s hand back down, letting go of it.

Thor brought his hand to Loki’s chin and raised it so that he could meet his gaze. “I can’t force you to stay safe, but please, promise me you won’t do anything brash.”

Loki let out a low chuckle, “I can keep that promise as well as you can and you know it.”

A weak smile set on Thor’s face. “Then let us be brash together so that we might end this war and mend what has been broken.” In his heart, Loki knew that their pieces were far too shattered to truly mend, but in that moment he wanted so desperately to trust in his brother’s words, that maybe there was still hope for them. For him.

**Author's Note:**

> The scene is from The Incredibles at the end when Bob is trying to tell Helen and the kids to stay out of the fight if you didn't pick up on it :)


End file.
